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January 9, 2013

his is my first
post of the year and it’s about time I finally posted this. I had planned to enjoy
the first week of the New Year and take a vacation from blogging. However,
vacations, like all good things must come to an end. the worst part of a
vacation has got to be getting back to routine; it’s not the getting down to
the routine as much as getting started that’s the problem! So here I am,
starting out 2013 on my blog with Paanakam, a recipe that’s a fitting to start
the year after all that rich food and
feasting.

So what is
Paanakam? Most South Indians would be familiar with this ginger and cardamom
flavoured drink which is sweetened with jaggery and known for its digestive and
cooling properties. Paanakam is usually served as an offering to the Gods during
religious rituals and festivities and is thus truly a drink of the Gods.

Paanakam is usually made during Ram Navami, Thai Poosam celebrations and other festivities/ fasting rituals, but in our family it is made and offered as “naivedhyam”
(ritual religious offering) on the tenth day of Navarathri festivities. Navarathri
is a celebration of “Shakthi” and the Godess Durga (the power of the female form
of God) in her various forms, over the 10 days of the festival. Each evening,
we prepare sweet or savoury food items which are offered in prayer and then
distributed to the family, neighbours and friends.

I remember my maternal
grandmother explaining the rationale behind this rather simple offering on the
last day of the festivities. Paanakam is offered as a digestive/ restorative
drink to the Goddess on the tenth and last day as she would have had enough of
feasting over the previous nine days of Navrathri. Whether the Goddess Durga
needs it or not her devotees would definitely benefit from a couple of glasses
of the drink!

I’m someone who
loves ginger flavoured food or drink and if it has jaggery too, then it’s
something I’m up for. It’s also very easy to make, takes so little time and
needs just 5 ingredients – definitely a case of less is more! In my family,
Paanakam is made with jaggery, water ginger and cardamom, but you will find
recipes that also use crushed black pepper and a dash of lime juice.

I choose to add
lime juice because there’s a nice balance of sweet and a hint of tang that goes
well with the ginger and cardamom. The colour and taste of the Paanakam will
vary with the colour and taste of the jaggery you use. Back home in Kerala, we
get a very deep brown coloured jaggery which is dry and has a just a hint of
salt. Here in Goa we get a yellowish coloured jaggery which is very moist and
awfully sweet and more salty than I’m used to.

The recipe given
below is just a set of directions. Use as much jaggery (some jaggery is very
sweet while some isn’t as much) and the spices as your taste demands. For me,
the perfect Paanakam is one that is not too sweet, has a healthy kick of ginger
and mild hint of cardamom and tang. I also prefer to use the dark variety of
palm jaggery that is commonly used in Kerala.

Though this
drink is traditionally served as part of festivities in South India, it makes a
great summer cooler and thirst quencher. Though normally served at room
temperature, serve this chilled during an Indian summer and life will look
better. Heidi Swanson (of the blog 101 Cookbooks) has a recipe for Sparkling Paanakam in her book, Super Natural Every Day, if you’re looking for a
non-alcoholic aerated modern twist on a traditional drink!

Paanakam (A
Ginger & Cardamom Flavoured Jaggery Drink)

Ingredients:

1 cup powdered jaggery

4 cups water

3 to 4 pods cardamom, powdered

2 tsp grated dried
ginger (chukku/ sonth)

The juice of 1/2
a lime

Method:

Dissolve the
powdered jaggery in the water. Let it sit for about 5 minutes so any impurities
in the jaggery will settle down. Decant or strain the jaggery solution through
a fine-meshed strainer. Add the cardamom, dried ginger and lime juice and mix
well.

Taste and make
adjustments till you feel it tastes like you like it. Traditionally though,
since all food made at home during festivities is offered to God before it is
distributed we never taste any food that we cook before ritual offering.

Pour into
glasses and serve. Chill before serving if you prefer. Double or triple the
recipe for a larger batch of Paanakam. This recipe serves 4.